How It's Made Toothbrushes

2. & 3. Dairy and eggs

Drugstores will often run sales on milk and eggs with savings up to $1 over grocery store prices. Dairy prices vary regionally, but keep an eye out for sales or special offers.

4. & 5. Toothbrushes & toothpaste

These items will often have pharmacy rewards (like Walgreens Register Rewards or Balance Rewards points) that can really lower the price. Combine points with coupons, and you should be able to grab toothbrushes and toothpaste free or very inexpensively every four to six weeks.

6. Makeup

If you're using drugstore brands, you'll usually get a much better deal at drugstores than at grocery or department stores. There are often rewards for these products that you can combine with coupons and sales to get fabulous deals.
We see buy-one-get-one-free or buy-one-get-one-half-off sales on cosmetics regularly. Plus, because of limited space, drugstores often have great clearance deals to make space for new makeup products.

Another tip: If your store has a beauty counter, always ask the beauty adviser there for coupons.

7. Personal care items

Soap, body wash and lotions can often be purchased very inexpensively at the drugstore. Look for sales, rewards and store coupons that you can stack along with manufacturer's coupons for these items.

8. Store-brand garbage bags

I love Walgreens brand (Nice!) garbage bags. The quality is excellent, and the regular price is very reasonable. I usually wait for a sale, when I can grab them for about half the price of brand-name garbage bags.

9. Drugstore-brand diapers

While not a user myself, I've heard great things about Walgreens-brand diapers. Look for the buy-one-get-one-free sale that happens a few times a year, and you can grab diapers for about 12 to 13 cents each.
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10. Hair color

Not only do drugstores have a great selection of hair color, they often run sales and rewards promotions. You can also find many clearance hair-color deals. Combine that with coupons, and you can easily get hair color kits from your favorite brands for about $2.50 to $3.50 a kit.

The bottom line

While surveys — such as those from the public service consumer resource guide Consumer World — offer evidence that drugstores charge for convenience, learning to hack prices with rewards programs, sales and coupons can turn those high prices upside down.
If you haven't tried it yet, do so soon. And if you need free help, there's plenty out there. For starters, check out Christie's sites:

WildForWags.com (Walgreens)
WildforCVS.com (CVS)

Which deals have you found at the local drugstore? How about sites that help you save? Spread the word by leaving a comment below or on our Facebook page!